Dozens of emails riddled with questions (what kind of clothing should I bring? How much?), two suitcases full of weather inappropriate clothing (3 pairs of sandals for the Winter season?), and millions of goodbyes later, it was time to set off for Armenia. I had spent my entire University career anticipating my year in the country, and yet, had no idea what to expect. I arrived at Zvartnotz airport at 3AM and was bombarded with taxi drivers looking for their next client until finally I heard a friendly voice in the distance say, “are you Ani? Ani? Ani?” It was my host family searching for me through the crowd of arriving passengers. The city was still asleep as we pulled into their driveway, but it wouldn't be long until I would discover how alive Yerevan really is, the language, the culture, the people.

Coming from a mixed Armenian-Austrian background, I always felt a certain distance from the Armenian culture, and while I had taken Saturday classes at the Armenian school in my community, I never quite grasped what it was to be Armenian. It always seemed like such a foreign concept, not something that I could ever really be a part of. This was my opportunity to find out for myself what it really meant to be Armenian and where my roots really did come from, the language, the culture, the people.

A few short days after my arrival, I joined the Birthright volunteers on a havak to the SOS Village in Abovyan. We played with the children, discovered new perspectives and gained a new appreciation for humanitarianism. We were diasporans from different countries, of different ages and with different backgrounds, but each with the same good intentions and something positive to offer the world. Each excursion, havak and forum that followed would bring even more to my experience and after five months in Armenia, I am still learning every day, the language, the culture, the people.

I have met people and discovered a culture that have changed the way I will see the world forever. If I could I would describe in the greatest detail possible this experience of mine, but it's such an extraordinary feeling that I don't think that my words could ever do it justice. There is a strong sense of community in much of the diaspora, but I think the real discovery, the personal discovery, is being part of the country, the language, the culture, the people.

A few weeks after I had arrived in Armenia another volunteer had asked how I was settling in. With the risk of sounding cliché, I told her that the second I stepped foot into the country I felt like I was home. Without further explanation, she knew exactly the feeling, exactly the thought. Maybe it isn't anything earth-shatteringly unique to me, but I wouldn't give it up for the world, the language, the culture, the people.

Ani Colekessian (Canada)
AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant